Automatic ejector for straight-lift elevators.



H, L .BUCK y AUTOMATIC HECTOR FOR STRAIGHT LIFT ELEVATRS. y APPLICATON'FILD FEB. le. 1914. 1,302,631 IatentedMay 6, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l H. 1.*BIICK.

AUTOMATIC EIECTOR FOR STRAIGHT LIFT ELEVATORS. APPLICATION FILED rea. 16,19I4.

1,302,631 I Patented May 6, i919,

4 SHEETS--SHEET` 2.

Ann/55555 /J WE/Wwe H. l. BUCK.

AUTOMATIC EJECTOR FOR STRAIGHT LIFT ELEVATORS.

A APPLICATION FILED ri. Is` |914.

1,302,631. y Patented May 6, 191.9.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Wwf 06M H. l. BUCK. AUTOMATIC HECTOR FOR STRAIGHT LIFT ELEvAToRs.

APPLICATION FILED FEB..IG\ 1914.

Patented May 6, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

HERMAN'J. BUCK, 0F ELFWOOD CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 MATHEWS GRAVITY CARRIER CMPANY, OF ELLWOOD CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, A COR- POTION.

ATbMATIO EJECTOR FOR STRAIGHT-LIFT LEVATRS.

incassi.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, HERMAN J. BUCK,

citizen of the United States, resident of Ell-V i Ejectors for Straight-Lift Elevators, of

which the following' i's' a specification.

In the operation of a straight lift elevator,

arranged to receive packages or articles from a gravity carrier on one sid'eof the elevator and deliver them to a similar carrier on the other side of the, elevator, it has been found I that the force of gravity is not always suiiicient to insure the movement offthe package delivered by acarriage` upon thecarrier on the down side of the elevator out of the path of the next carriage, and it sometimes happens that this failure of the package to move out of the path of an incoming carriage results in damage to the carriage, the elevator, or the package.

The object, therefore, of my invention is toprovide a device which will positively and automatically push or eject the package or other article delivered at a station of the elevator out `upon the carrier section, or other support, and away from the path of the next elevator carriage, regardless of the form orsizeof the package.V

The invention consists generally in various constructions and combinations, all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

ln the accompanying drawings forming part of this speciication,

Figure l isv a vertical sectional view of av straight lift elevator "embodyingmy invention, the ejector device being `shown in position to be actuated by the carriage approaching thestation, l n

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view, showying one of the delivery stations of the elevator,-

Fig. 3 is a detail view, showing the carriage in engagement with'the ejector actuating arm,

Fig. a is a similar view, lshowing the ejector mechanism actuated by the downward movement of the carriage past the station,

Fig. 5 is a detail View, illustrating the position of the parts when the ejector arm is moved out of the path of the carriage for the purpose of allowing the carriage to move Specication of Letters' Patent.

Application led February 16,1914. Serial No. 318,967.

pas the Station without discharging its oa i Fig. 6 is a detail view of a modified construction showing a carriage approaching a station and in the act of returning the ejec' tor device to its normal position,

Fig. 7 1s a similar view showing the posi tion assumed by the ejector device whendischarging apackagefrom the station,

` Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view, showing the preferred manner of mounting the ejector bars, f

. Fig. 9 isa detail sectional view, illustrating another and probably the preferred construction, showin the cross bar of the car? riage in the act o returning the ejector aim to its normal position,

Fig. 10 is a similar View, showing j the mechanism actuated by the cross bar'of a carriage when leaving the station for swinging the ejector'bar across the station in a directionpara-llel with the surface thereof to propel the carriage load from the station,

Fig. 11 is a similar view, showing the ejectingmechanism set in aneutral or inoperative position. i

ln t e drawing, Fig. 1, 2 represents an upright rame of suitable construction wherein the elevating mechanism proper is supported. 3 represents a sprocketv wheel mounted in the upper portion of the elevator and 4 the lower wheels. These upper and lower sprocket wheels are connected by a chain belt `5, it being understood that similar wheels and a similar belt are provided on the opposite side of the frame. l have not thought it necessary to illustrate both sides of the elevator, as the general principle of a straight lift elevator of this type is old. At suitable intervals' carriages (S are pivotally i supported hy the sprocket chains, said carcarrier section 10 on which boxes, packages,

charging station. The mechanism which I prefer to employ for renderingthe stations 'l operative or inoperative is substantially the same as that shown in Patent No. 1,020,746, issued Marclr 19, 1912,"to Albert S. Dehler.-

As shown herein, each delivering station is preferably. provided with comparatively short gravity sections 11 and 12. Each section 1,1 is supported upon a rock shaft 13 having an operating lever 14 and a counterweight 15 which normally tends to hold the carrier sections in a raised, inoperative position, as will hereinafter appear. Each section `12 is supported upon a rock shaft 16.

An arm 17 depends from the shaft 13 and a bar 18 is pivotally connected to the arm 17 land to an arm 17 on the rock-shaft 16..

Whenthe mechanism is in the position shown in Fig. 1, the delivery station is closed and the packages will be received thereby from the descending carriages and delivered by gravity from the sections 11 and 12 upon a carrier section 19 which is inclined down- -fwardly and forms -a continuation of thedelivering carrier section 1,0 but upon a different level. The vcarriages in their up and 4down movement passbetween the rails of the sections 11 and 12, as indicated in F ig.

2, receiving the packages therefrom or depositing them thereon, as usual in elevators of this type. 4

It sometimeshappens that a package deposited by a carriage at one of the discharging stations will `fail to move entirely out of the station, resulting in damage to the neXt carriage or .the'elevator,' or the package. .To obviate this objection and insure -the prompt and positive movementof the package out of the station as soonas delivered, -I have provided an automatic ejecting or discharglng mechanism which I will now describe in detail.

In the one form of the mechanism, loosely, mounted arms 21 .depend from the shaft 16 and one or 'more levers 22, preferably curved, are pivotally connected to the lower ends of the arms 21. rlhe levers 22 project outwardly a suiicient distance to. stand normally in the path of a descending carriage, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Arms 23 are lixed on the shaft 16 and project inwardly therefrom, and links 24 pivotally connect the arms 23 with the levers '22 at a point beneath and near the shaft `16. The arms 21 extend above the shaft 16 for a considerable distance and also above the elevator station and are free to swing on the shaft 16 and are pivotally connected at their upper ends to ejector bars in the form of bell cranks having short arms 25 andl comparatively long is plvotally connected at its lower end with the arm 30 and at its upper end to the short arm of a lever 32 that is pivoted at 33 on the elevator frame,the long arm of said lever extending outwardly into the path of a descending carriage to be actuated thereby.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a carriage is shown approaching the station after having passed' the lever 32 and actuated it to return the kicking device to its normal position. The lcarriage as it descends will pass between the'carrier sections at the station and engage the outer ends of the levers 22, as indicated in Fig. 3', where the carriage is shown on the point of passing through the station. The downward movement of theI carriage as it leaves the station will force the levers 22 downwardly from a position indicated in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4, whereupon the `bars 21 will be rocked on the shaft 16 and thrown to the position indicated in Fig. 4, and a corresponding movement will be imparted to the bars 28. These bars'28 form toggle joints, in effect, with the short arms 25 of the ejector, the toggle being broken in Figs-1 and 2` and nearly closed in Fig. 4. The straightening of the toggle, or when the bars are moved to the position shown in Fig.

4, will result in a short stroke of the arms 25 of the ejector and a Acomparatively long stroke of the arms26, and a movement of the said arms suiiicient to engage and positively eject the package or other article from the station, assuming that it has not already moved off through the influence of gravity. As the shaft 29 isrocked by the outward movement of the bars 21 and 28, the bar 31 will. be drawn down, raising the long arm of the lever 32 to its normal position to be engaged and actuated by the next carriage. This is illustrated in Fig. 4, where one carriage is shown as passing out of engagement with the levers 22, the ejector being at the end of its stroke'while another carriage is approaching the lever 32 to move it to the position indicated in Fig. 1 and raise the ejector toy an upright position to allow the neXt descending carriage to enter the delivering station.

From the foregoing description it will be isol incassi l noted that the ejector not only has'a swinging movement on its pivots but also moves bodily with the supporting bars 21 toward the carrier station and consequently the ejector will follow the package or load in the station, substantially parallel with the inclined carrier surface, entirely across the station, as indicated in Fig. 4, and insure its positive discharge out of the path of the next incoming carriage, rFhis travel or stroke of the ejector "across the station from one vside to the other and substantially parallel to the inclined carrier surface l regard -as an important feature of my invention and a marked improvement over an ejecting de vicewhich merely shoves the package and then relies onits momentum to carry'it out of the station.

llt is sometimes desirable to allow the carriage to pass through the station without actuating the ejector mechanism.y ll'n that case the lever Mis-:moved from the position' indicated in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 5, whereupon the shaft 13 will be rocked, the carrier section 11 raised to a substantially upright position, and the vcarrier vsection 12, through its connection 18 with the arms 17 and 17 will also be raised to a point indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5, out of the path ofthe approaching carriage. The arms 23, mounted on the shaft 16, will be swung down to a substantially vertical position, as indicated in Fig. 5,and the levers 22 will drop by gravity with the downward movement of the arms 23 until they assume the inoperative position illustrated in Fig. 51 out of the path of the descending carriage. As indicated in Fi'g.2, a stop device 34 is provided in the path of the weight/ed arm 15 for the purpose of preventing the carrier' section 11 'from swinging downwardly 'be low the level of the station;

1n Figs. 6, 7 and -8 l have illustrated a modified construction of thev ejector mechanism, which consists'in providing an arm 35 on a shaft corresponding to the shaft 16 f. and which l will designate by the same ref-r erence numeral, said arm being pivotally connected by links 3 6 and 37 with an arm 38 on a shaft corres onding to the shaft 29 y' anddesignatedjby t e same numeral. Levers 39 are loosely mounted on'the shaft 29 and have links 40 connecting them with theA links 36 and 37 so that when the levers 39. are forced downward bythe pressure of the carriage the arm 38 will be lifted, rocking the shaftI 29. bar 41 is mounted on the shaft 29 and pivotallyconnected at its upv per end to an ejector bar that is mounted .on

a shaft 43 sli'dable ina guide 44 on the elef vator frame. 'This shaft is'provided with a seriesof ejector arms 42 and is slidable Aat both ends` in guides 44', one of said guides being shown i'nFigs. 6, 7 and 8. The pivotalY connection of the bar 41 with'rthe bar 42 is i ,I

vator, and while I have shown but one set 'of these ejectorbars, and the operatinglink's and bars therefor, it will be understood that another s et lisi provided on the other side of the elevator.

When' the station is opened and the shaft 16 isrocked, the link 36 will break the 4toggle joint, composed of'links 37 and 40,

and swing the lever 39 to a yposition similar to that assumed bythe lever` 22, as indicated 1n Fig. 5. To return theejector mechanism to its normal position l provide a lever device correspo ding to the one shown and described with reference to Fig. land which l will indicate by the same reference numorals.y The l'carrier sections of the station will also be raised and lowered by a mechani'sm corresponding to that of the previous figures and indicated by the same reference characters.`

lin Fig. 9 l have shown another modified construction, which consists in providing a shaft 16 corresponding substantially to the similarly located shaft in the previous figures with an arm 45 to which the short arm 46 of abell crank lever 47 is pivotally connected. A. link 48 pivotally connects the bell crank lever ata point near the junction l of its long and short arms with the arm49 on the rock shaft 29. The long arm of the bell crank lever projects under the station into the `path of the carriage ,as Iit leaves the station. The upper endl of the bar 41 is pivotally connected with the upper portion of .an ejector arm 50, whose lower end depends to a point near the'surface of the station4 andwhose upper end has a pivotal support on a shaft 51 and said shaft slides in a curvedguide 52 somewhat similar to the guide shown in Figs. 6 and 7 Rods 53 are attached tothe shaft 51 and are pivotallyconnected to one end of a lever 5 4 that is pivoted at 55 on the frame of the elevator, and projects outwardly intothe path of the carriage as it approaches astationto `be actuated thereby and return the ejector arm to its normal upright position. The function of this lever is substantially the same as described in the other figures, the only difference being its manner of con-- nection to the ejector arm. When the carriage has deposited its load inthe station suitable manner upon the frame of the eleand is leaving the station, it will 'engage the lever 47 and the ejector arm will be moved to the position indicated in Fig. l0, and it will be noted that the ejector arm will travel across or through the station in ak direction parallel substantially with the floor of the station, hence there is no tendency to tilt lthe package, which frequently happensl where the ejecting device swings on the arc of a circle. wardly from the station, resting-evenly on the carrying surface, and there`is less danger of its lodginor en route and dela ing or stopping altogether the operation o the elevator than there would .be if the ejector had a lifting or tilting effect when it engaged the package to be ejected. Furthermore, as in the previously described constructions, the

ejector arm remains in contact with 'the' package throughout its'travel from the station and therefore positivelyfinsures the discharge of the package out of the path of the incoming carriage.

In Fig.v 11 the ejecting mechanism is shown moved to a neutral position, where the actuating levers willnot'be out of ythe path of the elevator carriages.

' I claim as my invention: j

l. The combination, with a gravity carrier station, of carriages mounted to move past said station and deposit their load tliereon,;mechanism actuated by a carriage when leaving the station for positively ejecting the load from said station, said mechanism including a rocking member projectingabove the station and an ejector carried therebyrjand means actuated by a cary riage approaching said station for returning said ejecting mechanism to its normal position.

2.The combination, with a gravity carrier station, of carriages mounted to move i thereon, a lever mounted to-project into the path of a carriage leaving said station to be actuated thereby, ejector arms mounted to engage and eject the load frein said sta tion, a swinging support for said arms and 4 a toggle mechanism connecting said lever with said ejector arm.

"L The combination, with a gravity car-v rier station and carriages mounted to moveA past the same successively and deposit their loads thereon, of a rocking-bar .projecting above said station, an ejector de vicecarried thereby, a lever mounted to project into the The package is pushed out-j a carriage when path of .a carriage leaving said station, means positively connecting said lever with said bar for swinging said bar and said ejector device toward the load on the station, and means for tilting said ejector device -during such swinging movement to eject the load from said station.

5. The combination, with a gravity carrier station and carriages mounted to move past the same and deposit their loads thereon, of a swinging bar mounted to project above said station, an ejector device pivoted thereon, means mounted to project into the path of a carriage as it leaves said station and connected with said bar to tilt the same outwardly over said station, and a second swinging bar also pivotally connected with said ejector device for tilting it to eject the load from the station during the swinging movement of said first named bar.

Y 6. The combination, with a gravity car? rier station and carriages mounted to move past the same and deposit Atheir load thereon, of an ejector device pivotally supported and mounted to-swiiig bodily toward said station, and mechanism actuated by a carriage leaving said station for swinging said ejector device toward said station and simultaneously tilting it on its pivot to engage and eject the load from said station.

7. The combination, with a gravity cai'- rier station and carriages mounted to move past the same, of a`n upright swinging bar, an ejector device pivoted thereon and comprising a long and short arm, means actuatedby the movement of a carriage leaving the station for swinging said bar toward said station, a second upright swinging bar pivotally connected with the short arm of said ejector-device and operating to tilt said ejecting device on its pivot to eject the load from the carrier station.

8. The combination, with. a gravity carrier station and carriages mounted to move past the same and deposit their load thereon, of a swinging ejector having means for contacting with the load on said station and adapted to exert continuous uniformy pressure thereon and remain in positive engagement with the load until it is discharged from the station, and mechanism actuated by a carriage leaving the station for operating said ejector device.

9. The combination, with a gravity carrier station' and carriages mounted to move past the same and deposit their load thereon,

of a pair of upright swinging bars, an angular ejector device pivotally supported on one of said bars and having a pivotal connection with'the other bar, a lever device projecting into the path of a carriage leaving said station and mechanism connecting said lever ioo device with saidrst namedbar for swinging both .of saidbars toward said station and simultaneously tilting saidejector dereageer said ejector device to engage and follow the load out of saidstation, and mechanism actuatedl by an incoming carriage for returning said ejector device and actuating mechanism to their normal position.

11. The combination, With a straight lift elevator having a gravity carrier station, ele# vating belts and carriages mounted-thereon, sald carrier station being composed oftilting carrier sections adapted to be swung out of the path of an approaching carriage, of an ejector device having a member normallyprojecting into the path of a carriage leav ing said station to be actuated thereby and operate said ejector device, and mechanism for simultaneously tilting said carrier sections to opensaid station and release said member from its position in the path of a carriage. i a

12. The combination, with a straight lift elevator having a gravity carrier station, elevating belts and carriages mounted thereon,

ot" an ejector device including an arm mounted to 'contact with the article delivered to the station by a carriage' with continuous pressure-and remain in such contact until the article passes out of the station, whereby the positive ejection of the article is insured.

13. The combination, With a straight lift elevator comprising a gravity carrier station, elevating belts and carriages mounted thereon, of an ejector device mounted to engage and eject from the station the load deposited by a carriage therein, a swingingl support for said ejector device, said ejector device remaining in contact with the load until discharged from said station, mechanism actuated by a carriage leaving said station for operating said ejector device, and mechanism actuated by a carriage vapproaching `said station for returning said ejector device to its normal position. l

14. The combination, with a straight lift elevator having agravity carrier station, ele. vating belts and carriages therefor, of an ejector arm mounted to contact with -an article and eject 'it from the station, and remain in such contact during the movement of the article out of the station, the path oit said ejector arm being paralled substantially With the surface of said Station, whereby tilting ot the article and clogging of the station isprevented.

ln Witness whereof, `ll have hereunto set my hand this 20 day or January, 1914.

' HERMAN Jl. .BUCK Witnesses:

FRANK lil. Moons,- dos. W. HUMrHnnY.

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